Do we need an elected House of Lords? Explain your answer using evidence and examples (25 Marks)

A fully elected House of Lords means that every single member must earn their place in the House of Lords through a fair election.

Supporting the point in having an elected House of lords instead of an appointed one, not only would it make UK government more democratic and fair, but also give the House of lords a full mandate in order to appoint and amend legislation. For example, due to the Lord’s being unelected, they are unable to deal with any financial legislation or issue at all, as the supreme house (HoC), with 650 elected members, may do so. Electing the Lords, allows them to amend any legislations including financial. In contrary, electing people t become members in the House of Lords, could potentially cause more problems than actually solving them, as Parliament would consist of two elected chambers, not one, making the House of Commons not supreme anymore. Legislations would then be harder to pass, as both houses are fully appointed to amend legislations equally.

Another beneficial point of electing the Lords, is that more individuals have the possibility to represent either people, constituencies and parties, giving Parliament a greater opportunity of representation. In other words, there would be a grater number of MP’s/Lord’s being able to represent the people of the UK, automatically making it more democratic and fair. Furthermore, it could help balance out representation in general. For example, if people were to elect female Lords, the number of 20% of women as MP’s could potentially increase. Same goes for the ethnic minorities. They only hold 4%. Electing Lords, representing minorities can increase the percentage, making it fair as ethnic minorities were to be fully represented. On the other hand, the chamber would lose its balance between professional politicians and individuals wealthy with experience and knowledge. The House of Lords consists of many experts in different fields, which carry enormous amounts of knowledge in their subject area, making discussions about legislations more critical, however, supporting the election of Lords, would cause the chamber to only consist of professional politicians rather than a balanced mixture of